Warning: Running a 5K in a Monsoon May be Hazardous to your Electronics

So, as I mentioned in my last post, my mom and I ran the first of the Summer Good Times 5k series in Lowell, MA on tuesday! It’s a great race series with tons of fun theme nights over the course of the summer (if you want, you can check out the website at http://www.goodtimesrun.com/!)

I love a good race, and despite a long day at my internship and reports of rain moving into the area, my mom and I headed out for the first 5k in the series. A light drizzle began as we registered and stretched, but it soon developed into a steady rain. “Oh well,” I thought, “It’s an adventure!”

It sure was. As soon as the gun went off and we were into the first mile, the skies absolutely opened up. My light rain jacket was no match for the torrential downpour and I was soon soaked through. Puddles along the highway section of the course were several inches deep and completely unavoidable. This was only the second time I had run in my newest pair of sneakers, and as my mom put it, they were “christened”.

As our training schedule called for an easy 3-miler that day, I didn’t give in completely to my crazy-competitive urge to run the race at full-tilt, but I still ran fairly fast for me, coming in at 25:46, with an average pace of 8:18 per mile. My mom was just a few minutes behind me. On a day with better conditions (ie, not a flood!), I’ll be able to shave a couple of minutes off that time, and I’m already looking forward to the future races!

The real tragedy of the night came when I tried to turn my iPod on later that night – with no luck. My iPod has been my trusty companion for 4 or 5 years now, and I’m really sad to think that I may have killed it. Maybe it’ll come back to life after sitting in rice for a few days? A girl’s gotta hope…